Dan’s million dollar question
16 Feb 2013
Dan Carter can command any price to play rugby in any country. Japan coach and former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones hopes the All Blacks flyhalf turns to Japan for his off-shore sabatical.
Japan host the World Cup in 2019 and Jones, fluent in Japanese and married into a Japanese family, wants the national squad to ideally be that of Japanese-born players and not foreigners who have been playing in Japan for three or more years.
Jones appreciates the value of off-shore players, but he believes their investment should be on how they nurture and mentor Japanese players to be better international players.
Carter, outside of what he would do playing club rugby, would be huge.
Jones has seen the value of what players like Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie have done in mentorship. He also acknowledges the impact of Sonny Bill Williams, regardless of how short his stint was in Japanese rugby. It is what these quality of players teach the local player.
‘Dan Carter would get close[to what Williams earned]. A player of Carter’s class would go close to that without a doubt,’ Jones told Rugbyheaven.co.nz Richard Knowler.
Carter has a clause in his New Zealand Rugby Union contract allowing him to miss a Super Rugby season, which will be next season. Carter has not committed to playing in France or to taking a break from rugby, but a Japanese stint could give him a million dollar pay day and get him rejuvenated for one last World Cup appearance in 2015. He will be 34 in 2015.
‘He would be fantastic,’ said Jones. ‘Players like that not only come here and play well, they also teach players around them how to do things at a higher level. When you look at Carter play, he always plays like it is his last game. He could make a huge difference.’
Carter, should he be fit during the international season, will also become the first All Blacks flyhalf to play 100 Tests. He is the current world record holder for most international career points scored and no flyhalf in the history of the game has scored more Test tries.
101 Comments
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18 Feb 2013, 07:50 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-100: Im pathetic, read your assesment of carter, who is universally regarded as one of the finest 10s in the modern game
and all you can do is mention cheating and the like..
pray tell, what do you spend your weekends doing now that super rugby has started and you no longer watch it?
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